


Friendship is Magic

by Seito



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-16 23:01:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16504454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seito/pseuds/Seito
Summary: Contrary to Ignis and Gladio's belief, Noctis knew how to make friends.Fact 1: Noctis was protective of Ignis and Gladio.Fact 2: Every time he made a new friend, they did something to insult his friends.Fact 3: This pattern held until Prompto came waltzing into Noct's life.





	Friendship is Magic

**Author's Note:**

> title is lame, but it's the best I got lmao

Contrary to Ignis and Gladio's belief, Noctis knew how to make friends.

If you asked the Adviser and the Shield, they would mention a boy from elementary school, the one who tried to take advantage of Noctis. And despite the fighting and investigating, they had been proven right and the boy was quietly excused to from Noctis’ life.

And Noct never made a friend after that.

That wasn't completely true. Sure, Noctis had been upset about what happened in elementary school and he didn't speak to Ignis for like two whole days (which was like forever back then). But it wasn't like one stupid boy had stopped Noctis from trying to make friends.

(Sometimes he wished that blond haired boy would come back. But he seemed content to linger in the background and Noctis knew better than to push.)

Noctis continued to make friends. They just never lasted long enough to warrant Ignis or Gladio’s attention.

There was a girl, the last year of elementary school. Her name was Aria and she seemed friendly. There friendship didn't last beyond three days before he caught her teasing a kid with glasses.

(Ignis with his glasses flashed in his mind. Ignis with a tired expression as another snobby noble kid insulted his glasses at last winter's ball.)

There was a boy, Pere, the first year of middle school. Pere was great, if a little bookish. It reminded him a bit of Ignis. Their friendship lasted two days before Pere made the mistake of catching a glimpse of Gladio and calls him a dumb muscle head.

(Gladio with his books, just as thick and as heavy as the ones Ignis favor. That when it came to Lucian Art History, Gladio knew more than Ignis did. Gladio with a resigned look as people assumed he was stupid because he was big.)

There was Marius the last of year of middle school. He was almost not worth mentioning. Their friendship didn't even last beyond the first day before Noctis caught him complaining about a stupid old man with a cane who was blocking him on the way to school.

(His dad used a cane. Had to take the elevator instead of the stairs, walked with a limp and a growing sign of the toll of the Wall. He had a cane, still remembered the wheelchair, still had pain meds and physical therapy and a lifetime of chronic pain to look forward to.)

So maybe Noctis couldn't really called them friends, especially when you considered none of them lasted a week. But the intent was there. Noctis had reached out. There was hanging out after school, during recess and lunch. There were jokes and laughs and shared interest.

They could have been friends.

(But Noctis was protective of his existing friends.)

Prompto… Prompto was different.

(Noctis was sure Prompto was that blond haired kid from elementary school. Prompto never said and Noctis knew better than to push.)

The thing was, Noctis had a good feeling about Prompto. All the obvious pitfalls that the others had fallen into were easily avoided.

_“Bye Ignis,” Noctis said, getting out the car._

_“Have a good day,” Ignis said with a fond smile. “I'll be back after school to pick you up.”_

_“K. You too. Don't give your professors too hard of a time, even if you know more than they do.” Noctis closed the door and gave one final wave as Ignis drove off. Ignis was only one year older than him, but had started college, having breezed through high school._

_“Hey Noct!”_

_Noctis turned to see Prompto jogging up to him. Prompto threw an arm around Noctis’ shoulder, an action that still had Noctis reeling over all how causal Prompto was with his affection despite how new their friendship was._

_“Who was the guy with the glasses?” Prompto asked._

_Noctis tensed reflexively. “Just Ignis.”_

_“Just Ignis?” Prompto said with a laugh. “Okay, then. C'mon class is about to start.”_

And just like that the conversation was dropped. Nothing else asked, nothing else said. No insults, no teasing, just an easy acceptance.

(In hindsight, if Prompto was that blond haired boy from elementary school, maybe that was why. Noctis remembered glasses back then.)

Prompto's first encounter with Gladio went similarly.

_“So who was the big guy who picked you up yesterday?” Prompto asked at lunch._

_“That's Gladio,” Noctis said, munching away at the sandwich Ignis made._

_“Just Ignis and that’s Gladio,” Prompto teased. “Sure. Is he like your bodyguard?”_

_Noctis liked that Prompto didn’t outright assume that Gladio was. Gladio’s physical appearance of course no doubt played a role in Prompto’s guess, but at least it wasn’t just automatically assumed._

_“Yeah, something like that,” Noctis said._

Yes, Noctis had a good feeling about Prompto. He like hanging out with Prompto, knew he was smiling more, laughing more. Prompto made going to school bearable. They played video games together and he understood that Noctis couldn’t just hand out his King’s Knight username until Prompto went through all security checks.

(Prompto understood security checks. That… was kinda already amazing in Noctis’ book because most people didn’t. That was eighty percent of the reason why most of Noctis’ attempts at friendship never got pass the first hour. All those crazy girls didn’t understand that Noctis couldn’t just give out his phone number.)

Noctis let the days roll by, waiting and testing. Prompto never stopped being a bright ball of energy. It wasn’t perfect, no, nothing was. He knew that Prompto had anxiety issues at least, and there was frailty lurking in his eyes that Noctis had noticed.

There had already been a time that Noctis had to bail on Prompto for a function and Noctis waited with bated breath to see how Prompto would react. Prompto just rolled with it and just waved it off with understanding.

That was great thing about Prompto. He was understanding.

Noctis wasn’t so good with understanding, but he tried.

Eventually though, Ignis was going to notice.

Three weeks after Prompto had introduced himself to Noctis, Ignis finally brought it up.

“Noct?” Ignis asked.

Noctis quietly sighed, knowing there was no putting it off any longer. “His name is Prompto Argentum. He’s in my class.”

“Thank you, Noct,” Ignis said.

Noctis waited. He didn’t bring it up to Prompto, didn’t pester Ignis, said nothing when he realized that Gladio was observing from the distance (though Prompto did notice and that gave him a panic attack.)

It wasn’t surprising to find that Prompto passed all of Ignis’ rigorous investigations. Noctis knew he had it in him.

“Well then,” Ignis said, satisfied. “I assume you want to be able to bring him over and to give him your phone number and social media usernames.”

Noctis nodded.

Ignis smiled. “I already filed the paperwork. Bring him over for dinner one day, I’ll cook. I would love to meet Prompto.”

Noctis froze. This was the first time he had gotten this far. “Yeah…” he said. “I’ll bring it up to him soon.”

It occurred to him that this was the first time he had the opportunity to introduce someone to Ignis and Gladio, to add to his circle friends, that Prompto had passed all the hurdles. A wave of worry ebbed at his gut. What if Prompto didn’t like Ignis and Gladio? Sure, Prompto hadn’t fallen into any of the pitfalls that the others had.

But would Prompto understand?

Understand the complexity that was Noctis’ friendship with Ignis and Gladio? That double edged sword that ultimately it was their job to hangout with Noctis (which was a never ending source of anxiety for Noctis), but Ignis and Gladio had always proven otherwise. That Noctis valued their friendship, that they were still friends first despite duty and station? That Noctis was protective of Ignis and Gladio because people didn’t understand that?

He was sure Ignis and Gladio would like Prompto.

Gladio would love the way Prompto enjoyed running and exercising, would find ways to connect over geeky health stuff and enjoy all of Prompto’s pictures of nature.

Ignis would probably want to feed Prompto and enjoy the bad jokes together. Hell, Ignis would be ten times thrilled when he finally figure out that Noctis has been improving in math because of Prompto.

(Prompto was really good with numbers.)

“Hello to Noct?” Prompto waved his hand in front of Noctis’ face, bursting his thoughts.

Noctis blinked. “Wha?”

Prompto laughed. “Dude, where were you? You looked like you were thinking pretty hard.”

“Ignis wants to meet you. Gladio too.”

There. Noctis said it.

Prompto froze. “I-is that so? Why?”

“Why not?” Noctis asked.

“Cause I’m like lame?” Prompto said.

Noctis made a mental note that he would have to work on fixing that. It echoed too much like Ignis’ self-deprecating words about being a stuck up bookworm.

“If you’re lame, I’m lame too,” Noctis said. “It’ll be fine.”

Prompto gave him a skeptical look.

“I take too many naps, love playing video games too much and know too much about fishing,” Noctis said. “You talk too much, love taking photos and obsess over chocobos.”

Prompto sputtered.

Noctis hesitated for a fraction. Moment of truth. If Prompto reacted weirdly here, Noctis would just call the whole thing off. “Ignis worries too much, loves cooking and knows far too many rules and regulations. Gladio exercises too much, loves reading and knows more about Lucian Art History than anyone else.”

He smiled a tiny hopeful smile. “See, we’re all pretty lame.”

Prompto blinked. Then slowly, a large wide smile spread across his face. “Hah, I guess so!”

Good. Noctis just wanted all his friends to be friends with each other.

-.-.-

“Guys, guys! Let’s take a picture over here!”

Prompto waved his hand, urging them to join him by the chocobo pen.

“Of the four of us?” Ignis said. “I supposed we do not take enough pictures of us.”

“Hey, as long as we go the Fantastica Exhibit next, I’ll spend as much time as you want with these dumb birds,” Gladio said. “I can’t believe we managed to convince the King to let us go on a road trip to see chocobos.”

“I’m sure Iris will love the chocobo stuffed animal you’re bringing her back,” Ignis said.

Noctis let out a long suffering sigh.

“Don’t complain,” Prompto elbowing him in the side, jostling him. “We spent all day yesterday fishing.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Noctis said, smile fond. An entire day with friends. What more could he ask for?

**Author's Note:**

> Look, idk man. I like looking at these dumb boys' friendships and evaluating them. It's so fascinating. And the concept of Noctis being the competent one when it came to friendships was too good to pass up. Of course this dumb boy is going to be so protective of his friends. 
> 
> Noctis: You so much look at my friends the wrong way and I will stab you. 
> 
> Please leave a review on your way out.


End file.
